VMH presents Diabetes Prevention Program

Veterans Memorial Hospital’s Diabetes Self-Management Education Program will again be offering another free, educational program on “Diabetes Prevention” at Veterans Memorial Hospital. This event will be held Monday, April 24 in the ICN Conference Room, located on the lower level of  Veterans Memorial Hospital. Teresa Myers, RN, Certified Diabetes Educator, and Angie Mettille, RN will be teaching all those attending how to reduce the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes.

Pre-Diabetes is a condition that comes before Type 2 diabetes when the blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal, but aren’t high enough to be called diabetes. It is a silent disease, meaning someone can have it without even knowing it. Cutting back on calories and fat, being physically active and losing weight can reverse pre-diabetes and therefore delay or prevent Type 2 diabetes.

As a person gets older, especially if they are overweight, their chances of having pre-diabetes increases. Risk factors for diabetes include being overweight, being physically inactive, having a parent, brother or sister with diabetes, being African American, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander or Hispanic American, having had a baby weighing more than nine pounds or gestational diabetes, having high blood pressure (over 140/90) or low HDL cholesterol (35 mg/dl or lower) or high triglycerides (250 mg/dl or higher.) Physicians should check blood glucose levels if their patient is 45 or older and overweight, or under age 45 and overweight and have other risk factors for diabetes.

Additional diabetes prevention programs will be held throughout the year. To register for this free Diabetes Prevention Program in Waukon, call Teresa Myers, RN, CDE, or Angie Mettille, RN, at Veterans Memorial Hospital at 563-568-3411.